Brussels, 05/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Zdenek Tuma, the governor of the Czech central bank, thinks that rules for adopting the Euro are outmoded and “counter productive”. In a column in the Financial Times on 4 January he explained that these rules were established for a smaller European Union, that was at the time in practice pegged to the Deutsch Mark, and should therefore be changed. The obligation of countries staying in the exchange rate mechanism (ERM-2) where national currencies could fluctuate around 15% above or below central rates might have made sense at the time but “today they are outdated and counter productive”, particularly with regard to criteria on inflation. Setting the inflation threshold “back then” for joining the Euro-zone on the basis of the three best performances by Member States was appropriate, but today they are pegged differently: the common currency itself and price stability defined by the European Central Bank (ECB). The objective remains convergence with the Euro-zone and the reference point should therefore be price stability as established by the ECB and not countries having the lowest inflation rates. Mr Tuma affirms that having a deficit less than 3% of GDP is not sufficient and simply represents a formality that could be abolished, given that the revised Stability and Growth Pact calls on Member States to go further and aim for budgetary balance. Tuma would like to see an evolution in rules and greater flexibility. (ab)